Arsenal: 3 players who are now underrated

1. Matteo Guendouzi

You could make an argument that Matteo Guendouzi is the most talented player in the Arsenal squad. Few players have produced individual performances like he has. He was stupendous against Spurs in the North London Derby, in the 3-2 comeback victory over Aston Villa, and in the FA Cup victory over Bournemouth in which he entirely ran Mikel Arteta’s midfield and utterly dominated the game.

Guendouzi has slipped out of the starting XI under Arteta and his development has stagnated a little, but the talent remains the same and he only turn 21 earlier this month. His underlying statistics also paint the picture of a hugely gifted midfielder who simply needs a little fine-tuning and smart coaching.

This season, he made 6.89 progressive passes, 7.06 passes into the final third, 1.06 passes into the penalty area, and created 0.73 chances, all per 90 minutes. No player in the Arsenal squad makes more progressive passes per 90, while only Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka play more passes into the final third per 90. Meanwhile, Guendouzi’s 88.8% pass completion rate is bettered by only Sokratis and the best of all midfielders, while he completed 84.6% of his 15.7 long pass attempts per 90 minutes, which ranks behind only Lucas Torreira in the squad.

He certainly needs to improve his positional awareness, his defensive discipline, and his propensity to get caught on the ball due to slight complacency, but he is a supreme passer, a terrific talent, and someone Arsenal should be investing in, no matter what the fans may say.